Liquid-reservoir hairbrushes and combs have been available for years. In addition to combing and brushing, these devices allow a user to distribute water (and other thin and non-viscous liquids) and oil-based solutions over the user's hair and scalp. In some of these devices, liquid outlets (viz., nozzles) are mounted at distal ends of teeth or bristles. In other devices, the nozzles are located near proximal ends of the teeth or bristles (usually between them) or at a body of the hair device. Various attempts have been made to provide the combs and brushes for dispersing liquids over the user's scalp. However, these prior art devices have a variety of shortcomings.
For example, if the nozzle is located at a bristle area of the body of the brush (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,290 to Thiruppathi) or between the comb teeth (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,501 to Matchett), the liquid dispensed from the nozzle initially deposits on the user's hair and wets the hair and only thereafter contacts the user's scalp. This can makes the user's hair excessively wet and uncomfortable.
Moreover, because a diameter of the nozzle is much smaller than a size of a liquid reservoir, different types of pumps are used to force liquid flow through the nozzle. Accordingly, a person using this type of device has to adjust the liquid flow dispensed through the nozzle by operating different types of control mechanisms (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,250 to Walter and U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,290 to Thiruppathi). Since the user usually has to perform the above procedure during hair brushing or combing, the prior art liquid-reservoir hairbrushes and combs with pumps are relatively complicated to operate.
Furthermore, there are other problems associated with the dispersion of water-based solutions and other thin and non-viscous liquids over the user's scalp for the devices with pumps. If the nozzles are mounted within the ends of the brush bristles or comb teeth (e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,101,086 to Di Vito), it would appear to be troublesome to control the liquid flow through the nozzles. Since most of the above devices have open-end teeth or bristles, the liquid will come out from the nozzles whether or not there is a contact with the user's scalp. Because all brush bristles or comb teeth cannot entirely contact the user's scalp simultaneously, the excessive liquid disperses between the user's hair and makes them wet. Others have attempted to devise ways to work around this problem. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,195 to Moses discloses a fluid-reservoir hair comb with roller balls mounted within the end of each comb tooth. Although the roller ball installed within the nozzle can partially control a high viscosity liquid flow of the oil-based solutions dispensed from the particular nozzle, the Moses construction is absolutely not acceptable for the low viscosity water-based solutions and other thin and non-viscous liquids. A well-known effect (previously described for ballpoint pens) of natural outflow of liquid through a gap between the roller ball and an internal wall of the roller ball seat, a so-called direct-flow phenomenon, in which air flows in through the gap to allow the liquid to flow out from the liquid reservoir, is liable to take place. Even more, there are another two potential problems for the users of the Moses device. First, the Moses reference notes that the roller ball installed within the nozzle of the comb tooth can release the liquid only upon moving contact of the roller ball with the user's scalp. Since, the human head is curved, just a few comb teeth usually contact the user's scalp with each pass of the comb through the person's hair. Therefore, it is very likely that the user of the Moses device will not be able to evenly dispense a sufficient amount of the liquid over the scalp during routine hair combing. Second, because of the high viscosity of the oil-based solutions, the person using the Moses comb has to apply an additional abnormal pressure to the comb to be able move the roller balls inside of the nozzles while combing.
Thus, none of the prior hair combs and brushes are designed to effectively and efficiently disperse water-based solutions and other thin non-viscous liquids over the user's scalp. Accordingly, there is a need for a liquid reservoir hair device that is capable of delivering water-based and other thin and non-viscous liquids to a person's scalp during routine hair combing or brushing.